Painting



Dec. 27, 1927. 1,654,277 E. W. ULLRICH PAINTING Filed Nov. 5, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet l 34 iii ll.

Dec. 27, 1927; 1,654,277

E. H. W. ULLRICH PAINTING Filed Nov. :5. 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 27, 1927. 1,654,277

E. H. W. ULLRICH PAINTING Filed Nov. 5. 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec. 27, 1927.

E. H. W. ULLRICH PAINTING Filed Nov. 5. 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 i {Hlllllllllll Dec. 27, 1927. 1,654,277

E. H. W. ULLRICH PAINTING Filed NOV. 5, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR ,Af. 60. 401W;

Patented Dec. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,654,277 PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL H. W. ULLRICH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO KINESTHETIC PROCESS CO. INCL, OF LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PAINTING.

Application filed November 3, 1925. Serial No. 86,451.

My invention relates to machines for painting balls and other articles, particularly golf balls, and also to a metho The paint is evenly distributed and any excess thrown off by centrifugal action. Preferably the articles are held in cages during the operation, and the paint is applied by immersion. The articles may be placed initially in racks or trays from which they are taken by the cages and to which they are returned for drying after painting.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a machine for painting golf balls which embodies and functions in accordance with my invention, some of its constructional details being shown in alternative forms. Figure 1 is an end elevation of the machine. Figure Q is a front or side elevation of the same, a

part being in section. Figure 3 is a sectional view thereof, on the line lllll-lllll of 1, showing the paint tray and hall or article carriage thereof and the table or elevator therefor in plan. Figure d is a plan and horizontal section of a detail of the rotors or hall cages and associated details, approximately on the line lll7-ll7 of 1. Figure 5 is a transverse sectional detail of the cages, cover, and paint tray, on the line FV of Fig. 6. Figure 6 is a vertical section and elevation of a single ball or article cage and associated details. Figure l is an elevation of one of the end members of each rotor or cage, looking in the direction of the arrows l ll-l/'lli of Fig. 6. Figures 8, d and 10 are details illustrating various steps in the operation of the machine. Figures ll to 1d illustrate a modified form of the machine previously shown. Figure ll is a section of the alternativeconstruction adiacent the driving shaft. Figure 12 is a sectional view illus trating the alternative rotor end members and the mechanism for opening and closing the rotors, looking in the direction of the arrows lllll-lhlll of Figure 13. Figure 13 is an elevation of one of the rotors and also shows the driving shaft box or housing in section on the line Xlllll-Xlll of Fig. ll. Figure 14: is a detail of the rotors.

The supporting structure of the machine illustrated comprises in general two vertical end members or frames 1 and 2 and a top horizontal skeleton frame 3 and a lower horizontal frame a. At the top of each of the end memloers 1 and 2 is a box-like structure or housing 5 and 6 respectively, con

taining the bearings and driving mechanism of the ca es or rotors 7 for the articles to be painted golf balls), a group of which extends between the two housings as will be apparent from the drawings. Each cage or container is considerably longer than each article so that a plurality of articles can be held in each cage in a line. The top of each housing 5 and 6 may he hinged as illustrated. The cages or rotors are of an open construc tion (to permit the escape of excess paint as later explained), each rotor comprising three parallel rods,,10,1l and 12 mounted at their ends in the end plates 13 (Fig. 7) and a fourth rod 14 suspended in the swinging hanger arms 15 hinged at 16 to the respective end plates. in Figs. 1 to 7, a latch 17 hinged at 18 to each end plate 13, is arranged to engage a catch 19 attached to the rod It or arm iii to hold this rod i l in the full line or rotor-closed position shown in Fig. i. The rods 10, 12 and 1d are at apices of an equilateral triangle when the rotor is closed, and, with the rod 11, are so placed that when the rod ll is in this rotoreclosed position, the diameter of the greatest circle that can he drawn within the cage or container crosswise of its length is suhstantially equal to the external diameter of the articles, and usually the rods are so placed that the halls are loose therein and free to move ahout as appears from Fig. l lhen the latch if is released and the arms "l5 with their red llswung ahout the point it to the hrolren line position of Fig. l, the cage is opened and the halls may be dropped or talren out and others entered. Flungers or fingers depress the latch ll to release the rod it and later depress the hanger arms 15 to open the rotor as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. if. it spring 26 at each end plate It? returns the rod i lto its equilateral position and closes the rotor as the plungers or lingers 25 rise, and springs 2? lift the latches ll" into late w mg position. Each rotor is long enough to contain a number of halls or other articles and adjacent balls are held separated by a finger or partition 28 and each hall thus retained in an individual position for return to the trays from which the halls are talren originally and to which they are returned as hereinafter appears. if desired, one or more members like the end memher l3 of Fig. 7, together with the latch ill and hanger arm 15 may be used intermediate the endsof a rotor till ill

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as suggested in Fi ciently len by. to reach these interior latches 17 as we 1 as those onthe ends of the rotors, or in the alternative, various latches 17 may be secured to a common axle rod or rods 18 and thus all of them actuated by a plunger at one or each end of the rotor.

Ordinarily I build each rotor of a golf ball machine to contain a dozen balls. A number of these rotors (in the present instance six) are placed side by side in the same horizontal plane as indicated in Figures 4 and 5, the supporting shafts extending respectively from the end members 13 through supporting bearings 29 in the walls of the housings or boxes 5 and 6, and from thence to s iral gears 30 by which all the rotors are driven in common by a common shaft 31 carrying appropriate intermeshing spiral gears 32. The shaft 31 is driven conveniently by a belt 33 and pulley 34 from an electric motor 35; the-switch 38 (Figs. 1 and 2) is placed in a convenient position. A hand wheel 36 on the opposite end of the shaft 31 is made use of during the operation of the machine as hereinafter explained. In the opposite box 6 each rotor shaft is provided with a counter weight 37 (Figs. 8 and 13) of appropriate size and angular location to counteract the unequal distribution of the weight of the rotor rods and end plates as will be understood. The shafts extendin fromt-he end plates 13 into the boxes or ousings 5 and 6 may be continuous single-piece members as illustrated in Figure 13, but preferably these shafts are broken ateach end of the rotor and provided with a suitable clutch so that each rotor may be takan out for cleaning from time to time without making it necessary to remove the bearings, gears 30, etc. Such a clutch member is shown in the drawings where (Fig. 6) it will be observed that only a stub shaft 42 is fixed to the end plate 13. Its opposite end is provided with a rib 43 extending diametrically across its face and the portion 44 of the shaft which is carried in the bearings 29 is provided with a slot 45 to re ceive the rib 43, a slidin sleeve 46 is mally held over th junc by a spring as illustrated. In action the two portions 42 and 4d of each are rigidly joined by the rib and slot 43 and and the sleeve 46 as appears in 6, so that the rotor may be rotated by the shaft 31, but by pushing the sleeves 46 back against their spring the junctions between 42 and 44 are exposed and the rotors can be lifted out. In the construction of Figs. 1 to 7, the plungers or fingers 25. for actuating the hanger arms 15 extend through vertical siots in the Walls of the boxes or housings 5 and 6 and the fingers at each end of the machine mounted in a slide t? which 1S provided with suitable guides in the wall of the box 5 or 6 (Fig. 4). A bar 48 reaches down from this slide held in position by- 'a guide 49 on the end frame members as-"shown in Fig. 1. One edge of each rod 48 is provided with teeth intermeshing with a gear 50 while a shaft 51 is ke ed -tb' the two gears 50 at the opposite -en '5 of the machine so that a single crank 52 adjacent the end frame 1 serves to actuate all the fingers. By turning this crank, the shaft 51 is turned and thereby both gears 50 are actuated and both sets of fingers or lungers 25 are thereby raised or de ressed as necessary to actuate the latches 1 and hunger arms 15 and thereby open or close all rotors as a unit.

Underneath the rotors is provided a paint tray 55 mounted on an elevator by which it can be raised and lowered; in the highest position of the paint tray, the paint immerses more or less of each ball contained in the rotor (see Fig. 9), and in its lowermost position in the machine illustrated is low enough to admit the balls between the paint tra and the rotors (Fig. 2). The walls of t is paint tray are preferably made as high as consistent with ood design for a purpose hereinafter explained, and its bottom may be depressed parallel with and underneath each rotor as illustrated in Fig. 5 to reduce the amount of paint which it is necessary to have present in the tray. For convenience, this paint tray is mounted on rollers 56 which run in trackways 5? supported on an elevator 58 so that the aint tray may be easily pulled out to the ront (to the right in Fig. 1) and for this purpose the elevator or table 64 preferably extends for some distance beyond the front or right-hand ends of the boxes 5 and 6 as appears in Fig. 1. A pin or projection 58 on the forward end of the paint tray locks the paint tray in position underneath the. rotors as a lever 59 (Fig. 3). pivoted (30 .0 the elevator, is swung around to bring a second pin 61 in front of the pin 55% as shown in Fig. 1. The two end wall of tho paint tray are slotted at 62 so as to rccei e the shafts of the rotors as the point tray is raised to bring the paint up to the halls, u partitions 63, one between each two adjacent rotors, join the opposite end Walls of the paint tray as illustrated in Figs. 3 10 as hereinafter referred to again.

The elevator comprises the table 64 mounted on plunger 65 which is supported in a long sliding bearing 66 in the lower horizontal plate 4; itis also provided with one or more guide rolls 67 running in ways 68 on the end pieces 1 and 2. This elevator may be raised and lowered by hand. preferably through the actuat on of n'g c horizontal cam, 69. As Listed this cam may be mounted on a vertical shaft 2'0 cm and lid

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ried in a bearing 71 mounted on the lower horizontal plate 4 and is driven by an annular gear 72 underneath the cam and the gear train 73, 74 and 75, the last of which is connected to the hand wheel 76. A roller 77 on the vertical plunger bears on the upper or working face of the cam 69 and 3 the gear which is arranged to strilre the end tranie l at the desired limits of the cam movement, or suitable members such as 79 attached to the frame.

lit will be understood that the top horisontal lrame 3 is provided with a large rectangular opening (or this frame may consist solely of two horizontal side bars) through which the paint tray can be raised and the paint brought into contact with the halls as shown in Fig. 9. The balls or other objects to be painted can be inserted into the cages or rotors 7 in any desired manner, but in the present instance this is done with the aid ot a receiver, i. e. holder for the balls, which here has the form of a tray 86 and introduces the balls into the rotors from below as before indicated. I provide a number of these trays for each machine and the balls are laced on the trays remote from the machine; the trays are introduced successively into the machine, the balls taken therefrom into the rotors, painted, and returned to the tray, and the recharged tray then removed and replaced by another with a new supply of balls the painted balls are retained on their respective trays until dry. This procedure enables the painting machine to be lzept in continuous operation, but the same general procedure can be carried out in the other forms of receivers or holders and other arrangements for drying the balls. Each ball on one of these trays 86 illustrated is supported on a group of three pins 87 extending from the base of the tray, the three pins being arranged at the apices of a triangle as appears in Fig. 3. A sufficient number of these groups, properly arranged, are provided to introduce a ball into each ball place in every rotor. A charge of balls being assembled on a tray, the tray is placed on the ball carriage 88 which is carried on rollers 89 running in tracks 90 on the elevator. Guides 91 may be provided on the ball carriage to assure the proper location of the ball tray, and hence the balls, with respect to the rotors, and latches 92 temporarily hold the tray in place in the guides. The ball carriage, it will be ob served, supports the ball tray above the paint tray, and when the elevator is in its .As a further lowest position (Fig. "1) the ball carriage and tray is pushed in underneath the rotors. The ball carriage is conveniently retained in its outermost position by a spring latch 93, and in its innermost position, i. 0. underneath the rotors, by a to engage a pin 95 on the ballcarriage. This latch 94 is integral with or connected to an operating finger 96, so that by pulling out the release rod 97' by means of the knob 98, the notched end 99 oil the release rod raises the finger 96 and thereby lifts the latch 94 out of engagement with the pin 95 and permits the ball carriage to be pulled out l rom underneath the rotors; a

spring ltltl normally retains the release rod 9'? in a position in which. the latch 94 is free to engage the pin 95. The ball tray being underneath the rotor, assurance is made that the rotors are turned to av position (represented in Figs. 'l' and El) to open from below. For this purpose the rotors as a group. may be turned by the hand wheel 36, and l usually provide a marker in the form oi? a wire 105 extending radially from one of the rotor shafts underneath a win dow 106, so that by observing the position of this wire 105 through this window, the operator may know when the rotors are in proper position. to receive the balls. The rotors are then locked in this a pivoted member 107 which has two lugs 108 projecting through the wall of the box 5 to engage with flat faces of polygonal members 109 last to shafts of the rotors. When this locking member 107 is turned to the position illustrated in Figs. 4 and 11 for example, the lugs 108 directly lock two of the rotors in the given position and indirectly through the drive shaft 31 lock the remainder in a corresponding position.

safety device to prevent accidental operation of the driving motor 35 while the shaft 31 is thus locked, I commonl add the guard 110 to the locking mem er 107, the guard being so placed that When the locking member 107 is in rotorlocking position (Figs. 4 and 11), the guard 110 stands in front of the switch 38 in the motor circuit, so that the switch is not readily operated; at the same time the movement of the locking member 107 to unlocking position moves the guard 110 out of the Way of the switch as shown in Fig. 2. The rotors being thus locked in the proper position, the crank 52 is turned to depress the plunger-s 25 to release the latches 17 and depress the hanger arms 15 so that the rods 14 are carried to one side-to open the rotors. The rotors being open, the hand wheel 76 is now turned to raise the elevator until the ball tray 86 reaches the position illustrated in Fig. 8, that is to say, a position in which the balls are entered into the open rotors. The crank 52 is then position by.

latch 94 arranged lid ' with paint. To assure reversed to raise the plunger-s thus pernltting the springs 26 on the end members of "she rocors to close otors p and the springs .27 pull brie latches i? into position, securin, This con- :fa, sGTS 2 ilIlES in Fig.

carry the balls around on tieir ow? centers.

For the most part this covers she balls ying; paint to uch of the balls as n not bedipped nto she paint by this simple rotation of he rotors i also use splesi rs lie to splash he pai t about as the spinners are dipped out of the liquid. In brief these splushers ill in Figs, 1 to 7 comu'ise fist and more or less trisn ulur parts, one between each two balls,

which may be mounted on the rotor in any suitable manner. for example on one of the cross rods, or they may be unit-ed inso an additional member 115 as illustrated in Fig. 6, the ends of which are held in slots in the end plates 13 as illustrated in 7. After the balls hays been completely covered with paint, the hand wheel 76 isagain reversed to lowerithe elevator until the paint tray is in the position of Fig. 10, that is to say until the level of the paint is entirely below the rotors. In this position of the paint tray, the motor 35 is energized to rotate the rotors with suilicient rapidity to throw of? the excess paint and leave a uniform coating over the entire surface of each ball. As much as possible of the paint thrown off by the balls and the rotors and not falling directly into the paint pool, is caught by the side walls of the paint tray and by the partitions 83 therein which are placed between each two rotors and most of this paint caught on-the partitions is returned directly to the stock in the bottom of the tray. Such paint as escapes the paint tray and its partitions is caught by the covers 115 and the partitions 116 thereon which telescope with the side walls of the point tray and the partition 63 therein as appears in Figs. 9 and 10. Together the various partitions completely enclose each rotor during the period in which they are rotated to throw oil paint, and thus prevent the paint from one rotor reaching the balls of another. The covers 115 are seesaw hinged at. 117, and open for inspection to the dotted line positions shown in Fig. 5 2. While a per-I: of the pains thrown onto the covers 115 and the partitions therein drains back into the pa' L art of the point. on titions 11 the covers and paris retained thereon and lost and some is likely to find its my to other ports o5 the machine. is preferable, therefore, that the pain; bray be made of considerable depth so that most of the p may be thrown onto its side walls zinr psi?- ti'bions 63, and to the smallest possible e:-:- tens onto the covers and partitions 116. Also it is desirable that the covers 115 he so hinged as to drziin into the paint tray when these covers open, as illustrated in ig. 2. The paint, by this centrifugal action, being uniformly distributed and to s suflicient depth on the bulls, the hnnd w ieel 7 8 is reversed still further to brin the elevator back to its lowest position or Fig. 2 (the motor and rotation of the rotors having been first stopped), and thereupon the ball carriage is again pushed under the rotors and the elevator raised again to bring; the empty ball tre r 86 again to the position of Fig. 8. The plungers are now depressed again by the crank 52 to open the rotors and drop or leave the balls on the pins 87 as before. It may be noted that the pins 87 do not. form an exact equilateral triangle, butthat the legs of the trian les parallel with the bars or rods 14 are s ightly longer than the other two legs of the triangles, which in general are equal to each other. This arran enient of the pins 87 permits the rod or ar 14- to pass well underneath and completely enclose the balls in the rotors,. as will be apparent from Fig. 8. With the balls replaced on the ball tray, the elevator is again lowered by the hand wheel 76 and the ball carriage and tray again pulled out and the tray is taken away to a. drying chamber. Another tray and supply of balls to be painted is then substituted for the first and the cycle of operations repeated. Ordinarily I dry the balls on their trays as bcfore indicated.

In order that the operator may know when he has the elevator in the desired positions, I usually indicate the four stopping positions on the cam itself as illustrated in one instance at 117 in Fig. 2, a suitable index 119 being provided to coact therewith in in obvious manner. Also it will have been observed that it is necessary that the rotors be maintained in correct axial position in order to properly coact with the trays in picking up the balls, but particularly in returning the balls to the groups of pins 87. The machine tends to wear in a. manner allowing the rotors to'bccome displaced. To compensate and to assure accuracy of this trey, s. large adjustment, 1 ordinarily provide one or both ends of the rotors with adjustable thrust bearings as represented by the threaded bolts 113 in Fig. 1; ordinary lock nuts may be used to hold these bolts in adjusted position. hlith the spiral driving gearing illustrated it is necessary to use this adjustable thrust till dii

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bearing on only one end of each rotor, depending on the direction in which the rotor tends to move as the mechanism worlrs,

[Certain modifications of the toregoingconstruction are illustrated in Figures 11, 12, 13 and 14-, in the construction therein illustrated, the end plates 13 of the rotors are substantially lilre those before described, and the rotors are likewise made up of four bars or rods 10, 11, 12 and 1d, and the bars 1d are hung on a hanger arm 15 pivoted to the end plates as before. The rotors are held closed, however, entirely by springs 122 which are connected between the end plates 13 and the rods 11 or hanger arms 15. The rotor-opening plungers 125 are carried on frames 126 outside the housings 5 and b, one at each. end of the machine, and these frames in turn are sustained by the carrying rods 12"? in the guides 128, wherein they are normally held elevated by the springs 129. A shaft 130 reaching from end to end of the machine, carries a gear 131 near each end to intermesh with a toothed member 132 on each of the frames 126. By turning the cranlr. 133 therefore on the shaft 130, the various plungers are depressed against the springs 129 and thereby pulled down against pins projecting from the hanger arms 15 as will be understood from Figs. 12 and 13. Ordinarily I provide a stop, like a disc 13d with a notch or shoulder as shown, to stop the rotation of the shaft 131 when the plungers 125 have opened the rotor sulficiently. Such a disc 134 on the shaft 131 may coact with a spring-latch member 135 as will be clear from Fig. 11. In this moditied construction I have also provided buckets in the place of the splashers 114. These pour the paint over the fparts of the balls not etting it directly om the mass of liquid as appears in Figs. 13 and 14. In Fig. 14 the. portions 140 of the balls marked oil by the broken lines, are the portions which ordinarily do not dip into the paint as the rotors are turned. On a cross bar 141, which may set into the end plates 13 in the position of 115 in Fig. 7, I provide side pieces 142 and end 143, which with a thlrd side formed by the member 141 compose an adequate bucket. The fourth side of the bucket may be open, the direction of rotation of the rotors determining which side may be omitted. Preferably also 1 usea partition 1% in the bucket so that the llquid issues equally from the two halves of the bucket onto the two adjacent balls. It will be understood that the sides 142 terminatein such places as to direct the liquid paint onto the portions 140 of the balls particularly. In this form of construction, the fin ers 1 16 perform the function of spacing a is" cent balls apart to assure an accurate return ofthe balls to their respective groups of pins 87 on the ball tray.

It will be understood that my invention is not limited to the details herein shown and described, except as herealter appears in the claims.

1. The method of painting an article which consists in supporting the article in a carrier of open construction to admit the paint and wherein thearticle is free to move about, more or less immersing the article in the paint, continuously agitating the article in the paint so as to more it about in. the carrier to continuously change its points of engagement with the carrier, removing the article from the paint, and subjecting the article to centritugal action.

2. 1n apparatus for painting articles, a carrier arranged to receive and support a plurality of articles in. spaced. relation to each other and in which the articles are free to move about, means for applying paint to said articles while in the carrier and simultaneously moving the articles about within the carrier, and a receiver for said plurality of articles provided with point supports for the articles to receive the articles from the carrier and support them in the same spaced relation.

3. In. a painting machine for articles, a cage to confine a number of the articles and provided with means for spacing the articles apart, the articles being permitted to move about each within its own space, and means for turning the cage to submit the articles therein to centrifugal action.

4. In combination with a painting ma chine for articles having a cage to confine a number of articles and which is provided with means to retain each article in substantially an individual place in the cage, each article being permitted to move about within its individual space, and means for turning the cage to submit the articles therein to centrifugal action, of means for receiving the articles from said cage, said means having individual article-places which are so arranged as to receive the respective articles direct from their individual places in the cage.

5. In a ainting machine for articles, a cage to co no a plurality of the articles and till till

- mainder o as for rotating the cage I to the rods. Z. f. for. article, cage for the arti s comprising 7 of parallel rods, and means rotating cage on an axis substantially be? a ope. e5; admit and release an or: DJ Q03 e for articles, an ier of parallel e of said rods of the cage .or arallel to the article cage comprising a. harsher of a A m in machine lor paintin ar icles,

rods, some of which are hinged i respect to the remainder soas to to one side to openthe cage, means to engage said swinging portion of the cage to swing the same to one side, and means for rotating the cage on an axis substantially parallel to the rods.

11. In a machine for painting articles, an article cage comprising a number of rods, end members to which some of the rods are fixed, swinging members to which the remainder of the rods are fixed so that the cage can be opened and closed, and a latch for holding the said swing portion of the cage in closed position, and means for rotating said cage on an axis substantially parallel to said rods.

12. In a machine for painting articles, an article cage comprising a number of rods, end members to which some of the rods are fixed, swinging member's to which the remainder of the rods are fixed so that the cage can be opened and closed, and a latch for holding the said swing portion of the cage in closed position, and means for rotating said cage on an axis substantially parallcl to said rods and for actuating said latch to permit the cage to open.

13. In a machine for painting articles, an article cage comprising a number of rods, end members to which some of the rods are fixed, swin ing members to which the ref the rods are fixed so that the cage can be opened and closed, and a latch for holclin the said swing portion of the cage in ceased position, and means for magma rotating parallel to so. iatch to rele cage and cageepen 1a. in a cage for paint tray u Ion raising 1' which immers ilG p :c pcndicular to the tray. with a i, niinting inacag e t o contain a 2, *7? ion the articcciver for the artisaid .eccivcr being so at s ""cousl v a pluralitv of ron". the receiv to sly returned from KGfiiTDlQiltand each other. ainting msto contain a c the articr nancntiy in chine for art-1c plurality of the cles are tre cles, said cage ated th inner and cles downtray arranged be inserted cztge to receive tile articles h (r a cage to contain a pluraiity of the a ice in which the articles are treated and which is placed above a paint container and arranged to deliver the articles downwardly, of a tray arranged to be inserted underneath the ca e to receive the articles from the cage, and a carriage on which the tray is placed and which carries the tray between the cage and the paint container and withdraws the same.

18. In a painting machine for articles, 1 cage in which the articles are subjected to centrifugal action, an elevator, a paint tray on the elevator, and an article carriage-on the elevator.

19. In a painting machine for articles, a cage in whlch the articles are subjected to centrifugal action, an elevator, a paint tray on the elevator, and an article carriage on the elevator arranged to be moved, with the articles thereon, underneath the cage and above the paint tray while the latter is retained underneath the cage.

20. in a painting machine for articles, '2 carrier for supporting a plurality of the articles arranged horizontally, means for rotating said carrier on a horizontal axis to subject the articles therein to centrifiwal Inn ing the paint tray about said articles in the carrier, but so low that the articles are above tlll the paint therein, while the articles are subjected to the centrifugal action.

21. In a painting machine for articles, a plurality of means for sub'ecting the articles to centrifugal action while liquid paint is on the same, said means permitting the articles to move about within said means, and partitions separating said means from each other so that paint thrown off by some of the articles does not reach others of the articles.

22. In a ipainting machine for articles, a plurality 0 means for subjectingthe articles to centrifugal action, a aint tray for tarnishing paint thereto, and partitions in the paint tray, said artitions extending between said means while the articles are being subjected to centrifu al action within the paint tray and above t e aint therein.

23. In a painting machine or articles, a plurality of means for subjecting the articles to centrifugal action, a paint tray for tarnishing paint thereto, and partitions in the paint tray between said means, together with a cover and telescoping partitions on the cover.

53 i; ln'a painting machine for articles, a plurality of means for subjectingthe articles to centrifugal action, a (paint tray for tarnishing paint thereto, an partitions in the paint tray between said means, together with a cover and telescoping partitions on the ,cover, the larger part of each partition however being that part in the amt tray.

.935. The combination of a cage no a painting machine to hold the articles to be pai nted, a receiver tor the articlesfand a locking mechanism to hold the cage-in cooperating position with respect to the receiver, said locking mechanism having a portion which, when in loclring position, guards the switch at the motor for operating said cage.

2b. in a painting machine for articles, means to subject the articles, to centrifugal action while wet with paint, a paint" tray :lor tarnishing paint to the articles, and a cover above said means, said cover being hinged and so arr-an ed that when open the paint dripping there rom falls into the paint tray.

27.. In a painting machine for articles, a-

cage for holding a pluralitg of the articles in individual ositions an subjecting the same to centrifligal action,*a cooperating re- .ee iver for the articles having individual places for the same, and adjustable thrust bearings for the cage.

.28. In a painting machine for articles cages for the articles shafts for rotating said cages, and a clutch or attaching each shaft to its cage.

29. In a painting machine for articles, a

perforated container for the articles to be 66 painted, the diameter of the greatest circle that can be drawn within the container crosswise of its length being substantially equal to the external diameter of the articles and the container being considerably longer than each article so'that a pluralit of articles can be held in the container 1n a line, means for applying paint to the articles in the container, and means for rotating the container rapidly on its longitudinal axis, after the paint is applied, to subject the arti-v cles to centrifugal action to throw off excess paint. c

30. In a painting machine for articles, a perforated elongated container for the articles to be painted, said container being mounted with itslongitudinal axis substantially horizontal, the diameter of the greatest circle that can be drawn within the container, crosswise of its length, being substantially equal to the external diameter of the articles and the container bein considerably longer than each article so 5131i a plurality of articles can be held in the container in a line, means for more or less immersing in paint the container with the articles within it and means for rapidly rotating the container on its horizontal axis after the container and its articles are removed from the paint to throw off excess paint. t W.

31. The method of painting articles which consists in arranging a plurality of thearticles in spaced relation to each other, introducing as a unit the articles so spaced to a carrier arranged-to receive and support the plurality of articles in substantially the same spaced relation, but wherein each article is tree to move about within the carrier, applying paint to the articles in the carrier While agitating the articles to move them will about within the carrier so as to continually change its points of contact with the carrier subjecting the carrier to vigorous centrifugal action after the paint is applied, removing too the articles as a unit from the carrier in the same spaced relation and maintaining the articles in the same spaced relation until dry.

32. The combination in a painting machine, of a cage to hold an article to be painted, a receiver for the "article, said cage being arranged for removal of the article to the receiver from one side of the cage, and said cage being revolvable in a direction that dis-- places said side thereof from the position wherein removal of the article takes'plaee 190 to the receiver, and locking means to hold said ca e with said side thereof in the positilon wierein removal to the receiver takes .1) ace.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

-EMIL H. W. ULLRICH. 

